Team Herald
SANGUEM: Sugarcane cultivators at a meeting held on Sunday at Wadem-Sanguem vowed to strongly oppose any move by the government to close down the Sanjivani sugar factory.
The farmers claimed that the closure of the lone sugar factory would put them under stress and huge losses. With no other alternative, the farmers said they would be left with no income to feed their families.
With government taking its own time to decide on the future of Sanjivani despite several representations from the farming community, they threatened to stage an agitation if the government continues to play with their demands.
The meeting, which was convened by Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar, was attended by over 200 sugarcane cultivators from Sanguem and other areas.
The farmers said the decision to launch the agitation would be taken at a special meeting to be held in Sanguem on September 24.
The farmers called upon the Sanguem MLA to take on the responsibility of revamping the factory which is reeling under huge losses for the past decade.
The factory would never have been in crisis if the government had earlier handed it over to the Agriculture Department.
The farmers recalled that former chief minister late Manohar Parrikar had made due planning to hand over the factory to the Agriculture Department but the move did not materialise and the factory continued to be run by the government officials which led to the crisis.
“If the government had handed over the factory to the department, it would have been in a position to secure funds from the Centre and this would have helped in running the factory,” Abhijit Dessai claimed.
The farmers assured Sanguem MLA of increasing the sugarcane production capacity from 35,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes in the next three years if he takes over the factory charge.
Gaonkar expressed his willingness to take charge of running the factory if the government entrusts him to do so.
However, Gaonkar was critical of the government not inviting him for the meetings held with the sugarcane cultivators.
Gaonkar assured all support and co-operation to the farmers in getting their grievances addressed.
Sanjivani factory member and prominent sugarcane cultivator from Sanguem, Francisco Mascarenhas urged the government to come out with its decision on the factory at the earliest.
He attributed the factory crisis to “mismanagement” by the government officials who were entrusted with the job of running the factory. Though the auditors had attributed the loss due to negligence of the officials, the government failed to initiate an inquiry in the matter.
Collem sarpanch Manish Lambor, Netravali deputy sarpanch Abhijit Dessai, Wadem deputy sarpanch Kushta Gaonkar, Sebastiao Simoes, Chandan Unandkar and Josephine Fernandes were among others present for the meeting.
